PAB Publication Ethics Statement

Pure and Applied Biology (PAB) is devoted to follow the best practices on ethical matters, errors and retractions. It is necessary to agree upon standards of expected moral behavior for all parties involved in the act of publishing: the journal editor, the author, the peer reviewer and the publisher. The avoidance of publication misconduct is one of the important responsibilities of our editorial board. Any kind of unethical behavior is not acceptable, and PAB does not tolerate plagiarism in any form. Authors submitting articles to PAB assert that manuscript contents are original. The authors ensure that they have written entirely original works, and if the authors have used the work and/or words of others that this has been appropriately cited or quoted. Furthermore, they warrant that their article has neither been published elsewhere in any language fully or partly, nor is it under review for publication anywhere.


The following duties outlined for editors, reviewers and authors, are based on the Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors suggested by Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Duties of Editor


Publication decisions
The editor of the journal is responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal should be published. The editor may be guided by the policies of the journal's editorial board and constrained by such legal requirements as shall then be in force regarding libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism. The editor may confer with other editors or reviewers in making this decision.


Review of Manuscripts
Editor ensures that each manuscript is initially evaluated by the editor for originality, making use of Turnitin software (provided by Higher Education Commission of Pakistan) to do so. After passing this test, (having less than 19% similarity index) the manuscript is forwarded to two reviewers (at least one from technically advanced countries as per HEC Pakistan’s requirement) for double-blind peer review, each of whom will make a recommendation to accept, reject, or modify the manuscript. The review period will in arrange of 1 to 3 months.


Fair play
The editor (s) assess manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.


Confidentiality
The editor and any editorial board member do not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.


Disclosure and conflicts of interest
Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in an editor's own research without the express written consent of the author.


Duties of Reviewers


Contribution to Editorial Decisions
Peer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions and through the editorial communications with the author may also assist the author in improving the paper.

Promptness
Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor and excuse himself/herself from the review process.


Confidentiality
Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shown to or discussed with others except as sanctioned by the editor.
Standards of Objectivity
Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.


Acknowledgement of Sources
Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Any statement that an observation, derivation, or argument had been previously reported should be accompanied by the relevant citation. A reviewer should also call to the editor's attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge.


Disclosure and Conflict of Interest
Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers.


Duties of Authors


Reporting standards
Authors of reports of original research should present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately in the paper. A paper should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.


Data Access and Retention
Authors are asked to provide the raw data in connection with a paper for editorial review, and should be prepared to provide public access to such data (consistent with the *ALPSP-STM Statement on Data and Databases), if practicable, and should in any event be prepared to retain such data for a reasonable time after  publication.


*The Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP) and The International Association of Scientific, Technical, & Medical Publishers (STM)
For details visit the link given below
 http://www.alpsp.org/Ebusiness/AboutALPSP/ALPSPStatements/Statementdetails.aspx?ID=55

Originality and Plagiarism
The authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works, and if the authors have used the work and/or words of others that this has been appropriately cited or quoted.
Submission of undertaking form by the Author


An undertaking form (Click to download) for the copyright transfer is filled by the corresponding author and sent as email attachment to thejpab@gmail.com

Multiple, Redundant or Concurrent Publication
An author should not in general publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.


Acknowledgement of Sources
Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given. Authors should cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work.


Authorship of the Paper
Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made  
major contributions should be listed as co-authors. Where there are others who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research project, they should be acknowledged or listed as contributors. The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are included on the paper, and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.


Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest
All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial or other substantive conflict of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.


Fundamental errors in published works
When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published work, it is the author’s obligation to promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.